Jake Gittes

Cruise and Ford would be too much of movie stars for this. For a movie about prison life Shawshank isn't that brutal to start with, but Robbins and Freeman still make it more grounded and believable than those two ever would.

If the series truly attempts to be what you describe (I don't know, haven't read past the first one), that should be all the more reason not to bother with love triangle bullshit, no?

I'm surprised to hear that because TIG, just like The Theory of Everything, appears to be just another formulaic, personality-free Exceptional Person biopic in a long, tiring line of them. I could never love a movie like that.

True, but not entirely, I think. Dazed & Confused is extremely popular, and School of Rock was a big mainstream hit. Linklater isn't significantly less famous at this point than Danny Boyle and Kathryn Bigelow were at the time of their wins (like Linklater, both had made one iconic film in the 1990s and were hit or miss after that). It's a big contender for Director, Original Screenplay and Editing. I get what you're saying, which is why I won't be ready for Boyhood winning until it actually wins. (The Social Network's snub taught me a lesson for life). But Unbroken and especially The Imitation Game (with the gay angle removed, though I heard the film largely does that anyway) still seem to me like locks for Best Picture circa 1994, not today. As far as more traditional films go, Selma is more likely than both of those because the reviews make it sound like a period film that has a modern urgency, and because the Academy gets to reward a film by a black female director. As for Boyhood's importance, one could find it important in that, by virtue of its gimmick, it depicts an entire decade of modern (and, more specifically, modern American) life as it's lived within the space of a single film, which has never been done before. Certainly it's more important than The Artist (which, granted, didn't have a big traditional Oscar bait movie to compete with) and Slumdog (which, granted, was a huge commercial success and more accessible).

That basically describes Lincoln, The Queen, and, to a lesser extent, stuff War Horse and Les Miserables, all snubbed of the big one. The Academy has demonstrated recently that it's willing to be slightly more adventurous with its choice of winners - the group of Best Pictures since, say, 2006 has consisted of two violent, uncompromising crime dramas, a wildly kinetic, stylish Bollywood melodrama by way of Danny Boyle, an unsentimental Iraq war drama, a silent film, a 70s-esque spy/heist/hostage thriller, and an absolutely brutal slavery film, which leaves us with only one fully predictable, classical Oscar bait movie (The King's Speech). I don't think Boyhood is a lock to win at all, but as an accessible film with an unconventional and impressive hook, it would probably be a more fitting addition to that group than Unbroken which is basically another classically done Triumph Of Human Spirit tale. At least Linklater should be far more likely to win Best Director than Jolie. Selma already looks like a more appealing, cool choice as well.

Good to have a list where something like Moon could be ahead of a Nolan film (one I like a lot, but still).

Tom Hardy - Locke Macon Blair - Blue Ruin Rosamund Pike - Gone Girl Scarlett Johansson - Under the Skin Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons - Whiplash Guy Pearce, Robert Pattinson - The Rover Tilda Swinton, Tom Hiddleston - Only Lovers Left Alive Andy Serkis, Toby Kebbell - Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Marion Cotillard, Joaquin Phoenix, Jeremy Renner - The Immigrant

So has Lionsgate announced that Allegiant is gonna be a single movie yet?

As someone with no emotional investment in the franchise, this looks like it's gonna be a lot of fun.

Gandhi is an even better comparison if Oyelowo is really on that level. Most people know him about as well as they knew Kingsley in 1982. Although if he wins that'll be one more reason to be pissed off that Denzel didn't win for Malcolm X.

I'm thinking in terms of likelihood of winning it's Keaton > Oyelowo > Cumberbatch > Redmayne, but it's going to be realllllly close.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6P40wLThbc

All the others have received tons of praise.

Disney's might be incomplete. No Guardians either.

He must really hate James Gray for refusing to tinker with The Immigrant. That film was praised all around, much more so than Begin Again, St. Vincent and Eleanor Rigby, and it's not even up for consideration?

Good review, but not quite my tempo.

I see a lot of wins for Boyhood, Linklater and Arquette. J.K. Simmons and Julianne Moore should also win the majority of the awards in their categories. Best Actor should be much less predictable between Keaton, Oyelowo, Cumberbatch and Redmayne.

I mean, it would've been fine if he tried to get out of a relationship by flat-out saying he didn't want a relationship at this stage of his life because of this and that. Instead, he's trying to fit the girl into his own preconceived notion of a put-upon, suffering girlfriend in the making, while making himself out to be a victim at the same time ("I'm so obsessed with music I can't even allow myself to have a relationship with you!"). It's pretty insulting, I think.

I don't disagree, but there's an irony in the film (and especially in that scene) in the fact that, no matter how many times Teller mentions Charlie Parker or Buddy Rich, there's no drummer in the world today who is at anywhere near the same level of fame. (Or is there?) And it's highly unlikely Teller is realistically gonna rise to that level. He wins the battle at the end, but I still feel like he's going to lose the war. So when he lashes out at the table I think it's partly because he understands that, no matter how talented he is, the general public will always overlook a guy like him in favor of guys playing sports. Or maybe I'm just overthinking this and bringing by personal cynicism into the world of the movie, I'm not sure.

He had no idea how their relationship would progress, but had the audacity to assume that she was better off without him even though he hadn't given her any chance to speak. It doesn't matter how accurate his predictions were - in that scene, he's the guy who thinks he's being rational but really he just talks down to her in a fashion that's both deeply condescending and cowardly. Notice how quickly he delivers his big speech - he's afraid of any reply she could squeeze in, he doesn't want her to have any agency at all. It basically plays like a variation on the opening scene of The Social Network, a film Chazelle has said he's a fan of. Had the girl ended the conversation with "You're going to go through life thinking that girls don't like you because you're an obsessed jazz musician. And I want you to know, from the bottom of my heart, that that won't be true. It'll be because you're an asshole", it would have been entirely fitting.

Very good, although once Healy's character makes his return the writers pretty much write themselves into a corner in which there's only one ending the story can have. (And, sure enough, that's the ending we get). I'm also getting increasingly irritated by indie films that seemingly can't bother with interesting cinematography and just follow the characters everywhere with a handheld camera. The final shot is brilliant, though.

Those aren't mutually exclusive. After a certain point he was ready to blow up at anyone who stood in his way, and when he broke up with his girlfriend he did it in a grade-A assholish way. It's part of the point, his pursuit of greatness is so aggressively single-minded he's willing to not just give his blood, sweat and tears, but also step over other people if needed.

It's terrific. A conflict between teacher and student in a music school written, directed and edited as a thriller is a neat idea and it's fully developed and realized here. Fine character work (Teller isn't afraid to be a total jerk at times, Simmons is far from a one-dimensional monster) and the most powerful and emotionally draining ending of the year. Damien Chazelle is going to have a bright future.

Eh if it had gone for the more subtle satire he would've just accused it of being too pretentious with its comedy or something.

Seems like a shit year for scores. The only great ones I've heard are Under the Skin and Only Lovers Left Alive, and the Oscars couldn't give less of a fuck about either of them.